 |
The Quiet (DVD)
by GentleGenius
RELEASED: 2005, Cert. 18
RUNNING TIME: Approx. 96 mins
DIRECTOR: Jamie Babbit
PRODUCERS: Joel Michaely & 4 Others
SCREENPLAY: Abdi Nazemian & Micah Schraft
MUSIC: Jeff Rona
MAIN CAST:-
Camilla Belle as Dot
Elisha Cuthbert as Nina ... Deer
Martin Donovan as Paul Deer
Edie Falco as Olivia Deer
Shawn Ashmore as Connor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FILM ONLY REVIEW
After the death of her father, traumatised Dot (who is deaf and never speaks) is sent to live with her godparents, Paul and Olivia, and their teenage daughter Nina.
The quiet, watchful and depressed Dot feels as though she doesn't fit in anywhere. At home, pill-popping and mostly spaced-out Olivia makes some very clumsy attempts to be kind to her goddaughter Dot, but her efforts come across as gross insensitivity, whereas Paul tries to pour oil on troubled waters...yet his ill-thought-out approach makes little or no difference.
Dot is sent to the same school as Nina, and is immediately viewed as being some sort of outcast. Nina, both at home and at school, is very cruel to Dot, insulting and belittling her harshly at every opportunity. Dot copes with this by withdrawing further into herself, yet remaining watchful and observant.
When he discovers her playing a Beethoven piece on the piano in one of the school's music rooms, fellow student Connor tries to befriend Dot. At first she is indifferent to him, but slowly and up to a point thaws out, allowing him to have just a little interaction with her.
Meanwhile and at home, Dot is alarmed when she discovers that Nina and her father Paul are embroiled in an incestuous relationship.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Quiet stars with the narrative voice-over of Dot speaking her thoughts, relating how she feels about her place in the world, what is going on in her mind and the sense she makes of her observations. Almost immediately, there is a gently dark, tense atmosphere present and at that point, plus mostly throughout, there is no indication whatsoever of the path that the storyline will travel along.
The acting by the two lead females (Camilla Belle as Dot and
Elisha Cuthbert as Nina Deer respectively) is excellent, particularly that of Camilla Belle, whose performance is outstanding as she perfectly, purely through facial expressions and body language, conveys the feelings of isolation experienced by a teenage girl who is traumatised by the recent death of her father and not feeling able or inclined to connect with the people around her. In no way at all is her delivery schmaltzy or self-pitying...Belle plays the part of an obviously unhappy girl, but with a cool demeanour whereby although she says nothing, her eyes and the way she uses them tell a million stories. Elisha Cuthbert acted out the complexity of Nina, her teenage character so well, exuding a bullying nastiness towards the depressed Dot, yet simultaneously vulnerable as she sometimes struggles with yet at other times almost relishes being in the situation of having a sexual relationship with her father.
Martin Donovan gave an admirable performance as Paul Deer, the apparently supportive and loving father, who has more than a few ugly twists and turns to his personality. Although some people who watch this film may feel that Edie Falco was a little unconvincing as Olivia Deer, I found the way she acted the character of bored, pill-popping housewife/mother - to the point of being a little crazy - absolutely spot-on.
Although Shawn Ashmore played the part of Dot and Nina's fellow school student and Asberger's sufferer Connor well and his character is very significant to the storyline because of his relationship with Dot, I feel that his role was less demanding than that of the other main cast members. I do feel that his persona was perhaps a little too 'ordinary' on the behaviour stakes considering he is supposed to have Asberger's Syndrome, but nonetheless Ashmore injected a decent level of sensitivity into his role and the way that he related to Dot.
The music to The Quiet is electronic in nature, being non-specific genre-wise. It is pleasant to listen to and does suit the mood of the film, but I found it a little too loud at certain points, it drowning out some of the dialogue, especially right at the end where what the characters are saying to one another is of great importance....yet I had to strain my ears hard to hear their words because of the too-loud music.
The Quiet is a film which deals with a very sensitive topic which some people could find distressing....that of a father/daughter incestuous relationship. It also raises the issue I mentioned above, of sometimes Nina actually welcoming the sexual attention from her father in a bizarre way, but to understand what I mean, the film has to be watched first-hand...and, with a wide open mind. Another aspect which could be disturbing is people's attitudes (such her godparents and their daughter Nina plus the school students) towards Dot, a girl who is already finding life extremely difficult due to being intensely traumatised, yet has to bravely contend with blatant insensitivity from her godparents, and borderline emotional cruelty from Nina and the other students at school.
This is a dark, compelling, very powerfully intense and thought-provoking drama which deals with the topic of incest in a direct way, presenting the ins and outs of the issue with offshoots, grey areas and details that most people don't consider. I can't say that it opened my eyes exactly, as it didn't tell me anything I didn't already know, but for me it is a useful tool that has assisted me in grounding the psychological nuts and bolts of what can for some families be contributing factors towards a situation of incest occurring. For example, it is interesting to note that Nina simultaneously loves and hates her father....also simultaneously loving and hating what he is doing to her, plus she sometimes uses her sexual allure as a tool to manipulate what she wants from him. The father's approach is very typical in that he abdicates responsibility for his actions, blaming his incestuous desires on what he perceives to be the 'slut' element in not just his daughter, but all young women. Olivia the mother has some awareness of what is happening, but is unable to systematically confront the problem head-on, or inside of her thoughts, so closes down her receptors with an almost constant intake of tranquilisers and alcohol, as that is the only way she can cope. However, she does make a few off to the side and somewhat ill-thought-out gestures towards diverting her husband's attention away from their daughter.
There are a few surprises as the storyline of The Quiet progresses, with some things turning out to be different to how they initially appear. Whilst watching, I had the sense of a huge tangled ball of string gradually unravelling and straightening out. The climax part perhaps comes across as a little unconvincing, but in the circumstances, perhaps such would be feasible....then right at the very end, there is another surprise....a surprise which really got my thought patterns hurtling into overdrive....I want to say why, but am unable to for lots of different reasons. It can't be described as a twist, because it isn't that sort of film, but what happens certainly is the last thing I was expecting.
Overall, I found The Quiet an extremely deep, powerful and disturbing film to watch. It contains some harrowing scenes, yet at the same time I feel it is a valuable tool in highlighting a dual situation of the isolation of one depressed, bullied girl and a severely dysfunctional family where incest governs the dynamics of everybody's behaviour towards one another. The acting is superb, particularly that of Camilla Belle in that whilst watching, I was absorbing and could completely identify with her guarded sense of despair and the vaguely hinted at reasons for it.
I would urge anybody to give this carefully-crafted, very well-acted film a watch, although I emphasise the warning that some people could find both the topic and many of the scenes very disturbing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At the time of writing, The Quiet can be purchased from Amazon as follows:-
New: from £3.24 to £60.00
Used: from £3.10 to £5.02
Some items on Amazon are available for free delivery within the UK, but where this doesn't apply, a £1.26 charge should be added to the above figures.
Thanks for reading!
~~ Also published on Ciao under my CelticSoulSister user name ~~
Read the complete review |
 |
Russell Peters - Outsourced (DVD)
by julwhite
This review is of the Russell Peters - Outsourced stand-up comedy. Although I watched this on Netflix, the DVD contains the same material.
I hadn't heard of Russell Peters before watching this, but he is a Canadian comedian who is of Indian descent. This is important because Peters's humour is based on different cultures and ... races from around the world, and I discovered that Peters has a substantial international audience.
The humour which Peters uses is very much observational, and in this stand-up he inter-acts frequently with the audience, often at their expense, although with a mischievous rather than nasty edge. Peters is quick-witted and does very well threading the interactions with the audience into his observational stories.
Peters can do a wide range of accents, and is able to switch to and from them with great speed. He seemed to have stories from many countries, depending on who he was interacting with in the audience, and he seemed very fast on his feet. Although the humour is never overly offensive, there is reasonably frequent swearing and some sexual references, so the DVD wouldn't be suitable for children.
Without giving too many of the jokes away, he mixes a series of stories from around the world with stories based on what his audience says. One piece was how he was with an African woman in KFC in China, and the comedy is based on a mis-understood word which is frequently spoken in Chinese. Other jokes based around wordplay and misunderstandings are his pieces on travelling in Vietnam and his "someone is gonna get a hurt" joke.
At first sight the material might seem quite edgy and controversial, but Peters tries to unite people by identifying characteristics in a culture, but also recognising that everyone is really the same. There are some clips on Youtube of this performance, so it's a good way to see if this style of humour will appeal.
This particular stand-up performance was recorded from a gig in 2006 and was recorded in San Francisco. Although some of the humour is a little American orientated in this particular performance, I didn't feel that it made it any less relevant. There is also another performance, also available both on DVD on Netflix, by Peters which was filmed in the O2 in London front of 30,000 people in 2010, which is worth looking out for.
The DVD is currently available for 7 pounds on Amazon including postage, although is sometimes on eBay for a little less. Alternatively the show can also be seen on the UK version of Netflix. The DVD and Netflix version of the stand-up last for 74 minutes.
Overall I felt this was an excellent performance which was received very well by the audience. Peters has a quick wit and is well traveled, and engages well with his audience rather than just trying to insult them for the sake of a quick laugh. By being able to imitate various accents and with a wealth of stories from different countries, I felt that this made for a really clever and different style of humour. I will be looking for more stand-up performances from Peters.
Read the complete review |
![DVD - Casino Royale [2006] (DVD)](http://img.dooyoo.co.uk/GB_EN/100/movies/movie-dvd/casino-royale-2007-dvd.jpg)
